Amid dozens of fallen buildings and rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş, one of the buildings remained steadfast, unshaken, and had no cracks as a result of the devastating earthquake that shook the country last week.
The building belonging to the Chamber of Civil Engineers in Turkey was hit by the earthquake, but it was not completely affected by the tremor, while all the neighboring buildings collapsed.
What is the story of the Kahramanmaraş building that remained steadfast in the face of the earthquake?
The image of the building, which was recently spread on social media platforms, sparked a wave of anger in Turkey, and revealed a state of laxity in the application of safety standards, which contributed to the collapse of many buildings in the recent earthquake, which claimed thousands of lives in the country.
Despite the strength of the earthquake and its aftershocks, contractors claimed that buildings conforming to sound engineering specifications and Turkish building codes and standards were supposed to remain standing, and not collapse as it happened.
This comes as the Turkish government vowed to investigate all owners of collapsed real estate.
In his interview with “Sky News Arabia”, the architectural consultant, Dr. Seif El-Din Farag, said:
- The most advanced country in the field of earthquake-resistant buildings is Japan, because it deals with it on a daily basis.
- Standards for building earthquake-resistant buildings require a high material cost compared to normal buildings.
- Most buildings whose goal is financial profit, their contractors try to reduce the cost as much as possible.
- Although the material cost is high, it will save the lives of a large number of people.
- There must be periodic government oversight to ensure that the necessary safety standards are applied.